More of the Anti-Inflammatory Diet

Continuing with the anti-inflammatory diet, next is to eliminate polyunsaturated vegetable oils, margarine, vegetable shortenings - basically anything that contains hydrongenated or partially hydrogenated oils. I have written a series of posts about hydrogenated fats starting on September 6, 2008. The listing for this piece of the diet goes on to say to avoid any foods which contain trans-fatty acids. This seems to be the new designer word for unsaturated fats. What you should be using is extra virgin olive oil.

Next on the anti-inflammatory diet list is to increase your intake of Omega 3. There is more on omega 3 starting in my posts on September 10, 2008. You will usually need to be taking some form of dietary supplement with fish oil. Contact me via this blog if you would like more information.

The last 2 components of the anti-inflammatory diet will come tomorrow.

Walnuts are Brain Food

Walnuts are brain food. Since the brain is at least 55% fat, the brain needs fat to maintain its structure. The type of fat that it needs is omega 3 which is found in walnuts. The outer membrane of every cell is composed a fatty lipid layer. The cell must pass toxins from the inside to ouside the cell through this layer. Like wise, for the cell to be nourished, nutrients must pass from the outside into the inside of the cell through this lipid layer. We have become as a society so "fat" conscious that we believe that everything should be low fat and food that have fats in them are not good for us. This is just not true.

The Omega 3 fatty acids are essential to making the cell membranes able to get nutrients in and toxins out. Walnuts are a great source of omega 3. This is particularly important as far as our brains are concerned. Toxic build up in the cells of our brains leads to unclear thought processes and cell death. While we only use a very small portion of our brain, look at the number of olde people who have dementia. It doesn't take the whole brain or even a quarter of the brain to die for us to be in trouble. Walnuts can also serve as a brain food by supporting the cells to function normally.

Walnuts

Walnuts are another super food with many benefits. Of course most of you probably know that walnuts are rich in omega 3, but there are many other benefits to walnuts. They are also a wonderful source of fiber. How many people out there do not eat nuts because they are "high in fat"? That is not the issue here. The fat in walnuts is good fat, omega 3. In addition, if you eat a handful or so a week it will help with constipation, one the biggest complaints of people over the age of 65. Walnuts are both a soluble and insoluble source of fiber. They bind with fatty acids, decrease the stomach emptying time and thereby decrease the speed at which sugar is absorbed into the blood stream. Diabetics out there, can you see how this might help you?

Walnuts are also a rich plant source of protein and besides the omega 3s, they are also have B vitamins and Vitamin E.

Walnuts have been shown to help protect against heart disease and they also have been shown to decrease C-Reactive protein. See my notes about C-Reactive protein on 11/20/08. This leads me right into my thoughts about anti-inflammatories which is the key to many diseases.

More on Reducing Inflammation

So how do we reduce inflammation? What foods are good for us to do this? Foods that are high in Omega-3 fatty acids are the foods you shuld be focusing on. Not only will they help decrease the inflammation, but they will also help you to be healthier in general.

I spoke about this before and you can read more on omega-3 by clicking on omega-3. I also suggested some foods that were high in omega 3 in another post, just click on post. Some foods that I did not list in that post were the brightly colored fruits and dark green leafy vegetables.

For those of you with teens or who are teens. Look at the diet. Why teens? because one of their greatest concerns is acne or having their face break out. Acne is basically an inflammatory process and by eating a diet that decreases inflammation, there will be less break out.

Reducing Inflammation

I've had a lot of questions about arthritis and treatment options. I want to take a few minutes to address this as it seems to be a big issue for many people.

First and foremost if you are having arthritic pain, look at your diet. Certain foods will tend to increase inflammation and hence you experience more pain. Foods that are high in Omega-6 fatty acids tend to promote inflammation. These are foods that have high-fructose corn syrup, red meats, and foods with processed sugars and saturated fats. You may want to go back and review the entries on fats. If you click on fats you will go to the first posting on this topic.

If you think about the foods high in Omega-6 fatty acids, these are the same foods which contribute greatly to being overweight or obese. Extra weight adds stress to joints and further exacerbates inflammation. More tomorrow

Disease and Omega 3

More and more research is being done on the effect of omega 3 and many diseases. Most of us are aware of omega 3 and coronary artery disease. The thing that intrigues me the most is the link between omega 3 and brain and psychiatric disorders, especially ADHD and autism.

When I was in training, it was rare to see a child with autism and there was no such thing as ADHD. So what's happened in the last 40 years? We are eating more processed food which means less omega 3 and more omega 6. There are new studies out now that indicate that children with these disorders who are given more omega 3 show less symptoms of ADHD and autism.

The old adage that we are what we eat may well becoming true in yet another arena.

Getting Omega 3 in Your Diet

So how do we get more omega 3 in our diet? One of the best sources is fish, like salmon (wild salmon is best), herring, mackerel, and sardines. Tuna also contains omega 3, but less than the other fish mentioned. Another excellent source of omega 3 is flax. You can add fresh ground flax to your smoothie to increase your omega 3.

Word of caution about flax. To be it's best, you should not buy ground flax as it needs to be refrigerated once it is ground. If not it will spoil quickly. Flax seed that you grind and add to a smoothie or shake type drink will help to counteract the bad effects of processed foods which give us way too much omega 6.

Omega Three

One can't talk about fats without talking about the omega 3 and omega 6 fatty acids. The American public gets way more than they need of the omega 6 fatty acids and usually way less of the omega 3. So what's the difference?

Omega 3 includes linolenic acid which I mentioned the other day. The ones that you may be most familiar with are EPA and DHA. I won't confuse you with the scientific name, because many of you have probably heard of EPA and DHA. There are other fatty acids included in the group, but these are the main ones.

Omega 6 are fatty acids that are found in most of what we eat today. In fact the ratios are that we get 10 times more Omega 6 than Omega 3 and that the Omega 6 may block the good effects of Omega 3.

Essential Fatty Acids

There are 2 essential fatty acids that you may be aware of, linoleic and linolenic. Your body requires 2% of your caloric intake to be linoleic acid. Linoleic acid is a polyunsaturated fat, so you might think it's a good idea to load up on the polyunsaturated fats. Not true. Eating more than 10% of your calories in polyunsaturated fats can result in the suppression the production of good cholesterol.

Linoleic acid is the most important fatty acid and your body cannot produce it on it's own. The body requires you to get it from foods that you eat. Best foods to eat for linoleic acid are nuts, seeds and some vegetable oils. Watch the vegetable oils for hydrogenation.

Linoleic acid is important for growth and development as well as producing hormones that can help the body maintain a good blood pressure.